The future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize downtown Columbusâ€™ western peninsula.

Itâ€™s hard to pin city or county officials down on the future of Franklin County Veterans Memorial which sits on the west bank of the Scioto River across West Broad Street from COSI. The Columbus Dispatch reported last month that thereâ€™s a $50 million plan in the works that includes tearing down the memorial. No county commissioner would respond to WOSUâ€™s request for comment. But Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman did, somewhat reluctantly, on WOSUâ€™s All Sides with Ann Fisher.

Coleman responds

â€œBecause itâ€™s really not soup yet itâ€™s kind of hard and difficult to talk about,â€ Coleman said. â€œSo I will just refer back to whatâ€™s already been disclosed. And thatâ€™s a different idea for what Veteranâ€™s Memorial is; a true memorial to veterans.â€

Coleman says the goal of the project is to reinvigorate downtownâ€™s west peninsula. By adding features such as an arts venue and a zoo, the project would make the area, in his words, â€œworld-class.â€

â€œThis is not a secret, itâ€™s just not. Itâ€™s an evolving scenario,â€ Coleman said.

Some people know Vets Memorial only because itâ€™s home to the Arnold Classic. But the original intent for the building, which opened in 1955, was to honor the men and women whoâ€™d served in the U.S. military.

â€œThis room is really meant to give honor and a place of serenity and so itâ€™s beautiful, itâ€™s attractive, and it serves those men and women that sacrificed their lives,â€ says memorial general manager Rodney Myers.

A lesser known room

An exterier view of Veteran’s Memorial. Inside these walls is a room with names of local men and women who perished in wartime.

Vets Memorial features a 3,900-seat auditorium. But thereâ€™s a smaller hall that few people visit. On the walls of the Memorial Room are the names of local men and women who perished in wartime. Myers stands beneath the 25-foot-high ceiling, looking out through a wall of windows, at a breath-taking view.

â€œItâ€™s probably the most beautiful view looking at the skyline of Columbus. City Hall is directly in front of us and you have the AEP tower just north of us to your left and the Santa Maria right in front and so as I said it is the most attractive view in downtown Columbus,â€ Myers says.

Maybe too attractive not to redevelop and use that real estate for something else. But that thought riles some veterans.

Hickman is the National Vice-Commander of the American Legion. The legion post he belongs to meets monthly at Veterans Memorial.

â€œI guess Les Wexner wants to donate money there and he wants some kind of art deal down there in place of the Vets Memorial,â€ Hickman says. â€œIâ€™m all in favor of art but thatâ€™s the veteransâ€™ memorial and we need to have the Veterans Memorial there in downtown Columbus for all the sacrifices the veterans made throughout the past years.â€

There are all sorts of 20th century buildings across the U.S. that were erected to honor veterans. Some are auditoriums, others are sporting facilities. The idea, says historian Ed Lentz, was to get away from the 19th century notion of erecting statues or even tombs.

â€œI think that they wanted to get away from the idea that these were simply mausoleums,â€ Lentz says. â€œMost veterans have a long life ahead of them. But if youâ€™re really trying to do something to express what Americans think of veterans and their service, it really makes more sense to have something living rather than something static.â€

Other memorials falling

Itâ€™s not the case in Columbus, but elsewhere all sorts of memorial structures are falling apart. In Greensboro, N.C., the faÃ§ade of World War Memorial Stadium, dedicated in 1926, is literally falling off. That bothers UNC-Greensboro professor David Wharton.

â€œThe fact that itâ€™s a world war memorial means a lot to me,â€ Wharton says. â€œI really feel that allowing this monument to deteriorate is disrespectful to the World War I veterans who were killed in that conflict and I think are being forgotten.â€

In Greensboro, finding funds to restore the stadium is the problem. Buffalo, New York had a War Memorial Stadium which fell into such disrepair that it earned the nickname The Rockpile. Once home to the Buffalo Bills, The Rockpile closed in 1987 and was demolished a year later after the city built a new venue. Baltimoreâ€™s Memorial Stadium hosted the Orioles and the Colts. That stadium was demolished in 2002.

Other veteransâ€™ memorials are barely hanging on. In Worcester, Mass., the Worcester Memorial Auditorium, built in 1933, has been shuttered for several years. But in its heyday, it hosted all sorts of events.

â€œIt could hold performances of a symphony orchestra just as well as a basketball game.â€

Thatâ€™s Preservation Worcesterâ€™s Susan Ceccacci. She says business for the auditorium began to dry up when the city renovated a concert hall dating back to 1857. Then came the final blow.

â€œThe city also built an arena where lots of sports events and large events like circuses and the Ice Capades and so forth were held,â€ Ceccacci says. â€œAnd gradually the auditorium sort of fell by the way.â€

Even with Columbusâ€™ convention center and Nationwide Arena, Franklin County Veterans Memorial seems to be holding its own. Last year the county set aside $3 million for repairs and upgrades. Shows at the memorial are said to be booked for several years to come. General Manager Rodney Myers believes that whatever is decided, Central Ohioâ€™s veterans wonâ€™t be left behind.

â€œOur county commissioners, this is their land, their venue, theyâ€™re going to make the right decision and weâ€™re going to do everything that we can do to honor our veterans,â€ Myers says.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/07/03/53579/feed/4American Legion,Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman,David Wharton,Ed Lentz,Franklin County Veterans Memorial,Glen Hickman,Rodney Myers,Susan CeccacciThe future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize the surrounding area.The future of the Franklin County Veterans Memorial complex remains a mystery. Last month media reports suggested that the venue might be torn down in an effort to revitalize the surrounding area.WOSU Newsno6:52Commentary: After 20 Years, Time To Look At Ohio Constitutionhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/30/commentary-after-20-years-time-to-look-at-ohio-constitution/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/30/commentary-after-20-years-time-to-look-at-ohio-constitution/#commentsTue, 30 Oct 2012 09:00:53 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=37533

Had enough of the election yet? WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz has had just about enough. But he takes time to teach us about an issue on the ballot that has gotten little attention â€“ Issue #1 which asks if Ohioans want to hold a constitutional convention.

It is that time of year again. The weather is finally beginning to turn chilly after a very hot summer. The young â€“ and sometimes not so young â€“ have returned to school. The eyes of sports fans have turned from baseball to football. And Ohio is yet again in a central place what has been an often tumultuous and even informative election year. I say â€œinformativeâ€ because I cannot recall ever receiving so many telephone call, email messages, printed materials â€“ and yes, even personal visits from people asking for my vote or wishing to know how I was going to vote or both.

Such are the joys of life in a â€œswing state.â€

In the midst of all of the national, state and local electoral contests currently underway, what sometimes is overlooked until one is standing in the voting booth are at least some of the constitutional amendments on the ballot as well.

State Issue One asks â€œShall there be a convention to revise, alter or amend the Ohio Constitution?â€ Since there has been little or no debate, argumentation or controversy about this issue â€“ and therefore little advertising- many voters may wonder why this question is even on the ballot.

And therein hangs a tale.

The people who founded Ohio had come into the new country from the East and South determined to find a better life. Having survived a violent American Revolution and the rather disordered years that followed, many â€“ if not most-of these people saw the need for the kind of stronger government promised by the US Constitution of 1787 â€“ but they still had a fundamental distrust of governments of any kind. Many would say they still do.

In any case, the founding fathers of Ohio adopted a Constitution similar to the national one in 1802. Like the national one, Ohioâ€™s first Constitution created separate branches of government, included a bill of rights and â€“ like the federal Constitution-was rather difficult to amend. Unlike the national model, Ohioâ€™s Constitution placed enormous power in the hands of its legislature â€“ the Ohio General Assembly.

Over the course of the first half of the nineteenth century it became increasingly clear that state government was not working as well as one might wish. Despite increasing concerns, a call for a constitutional convention in 1819 was defeated. Partisan infighting continued to keep state government from doing much of its work. And the construction of roads, canals and other â€œimprovementsâ€ had led to a massive increase in government debt. A proposal for a constitutional convention to correct these and other problems was approved by a more than 3-1 majority in 1849.

The Constitution of 1851 that followed this convention is still the basic law of the State of Ohio. Perhaps because it had been so difficult to get some substantive change, the constitution specified that the people should be asked every twenty years whether a constitutional convention should be held. In most cases, the people have said â€œthanks, but no thanks.â€

Most but not all.

On November 8, 1910, the people of Ohio, perhaps buoyed the spirit of the Progressive Movement sweeping across America, approved a call for a convention by a 10-1 margin. The convention that followed did not adopt a new constitution. Rather the convention submitted a long list of 41 amendments for approval. Some important ones like Home Rule for Ohio cities and direct government by initiative, recall and referendum were passed. Other like woman suffrage did not.

Since 1910, Ohioans have been asked four times whether they would like to have another Constitutional Convention. On each occasion they have said â€œno.â€

There are probably several reasons why. The Ohio Constitution has become considerably easier to amend over the years. The process is simpler and the number of signatures required for a constitutional initiative is easier to obtain. Also, the ease and efficiency of using a Constitutional Revision Commission has reduced the desire by some groups â€“ in and out of government â€“ to call for a convention.

Will Ohio ever have another Constitutional Convention? Probably. Will it be as a result of the vote on State Issue One on November 6, 2012? We shall soon find out.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/30/commentary-after-20-years-time-to-look-at-ohio-constitution/feed/0Campaign 2012,Ed Lentz,issue 1,ohio constitutionHad enough of the election yet? WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz has had just about enough. But he takes time to teach us about an issue on the ballot that has gotten little attention â€“ Issue #1 which asks if Ohioans want to hold a co...Had enough of the election yet? WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz has had just about enough. But he takes time to teach us about an issue on the ballot that has gotten little attention â€“ Issue #1 which asks if Ohioans want to hold a constitutional convention.WOSU Newsno3:20Commentary: Innovation Not New To Columbushttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/10/innovation-not-new-to-columbus/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/10/innovation-not-new-to-columbus/#commentsWed, 10 Oct 2012 14:38:48 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=36427

The City of Columbus has just wrapped up a week-long celebration of innovation called iDUs. WOSU Commentator and local historian reminds us that innovation is not new to Columbus.

Columbus, Ohio is one of those places where new things are always happening. Perhaps that is not such an unusual thing to have happening in the heart of America.

Because we have been around as a country for a couple of hundred years, we sometimes come to think of ourselves as something of an â€œestablished people.â€

We really are not.

We are a people who are constantly reinventing ourselves. And Columbus, Ohio is a good place to see that happening – for more than 200 years. Columbus is a created city. There was no city here until the Ohio General Assembly brought the town into being on February 14, 1812. Yes that is Valentine’s Day.

Transportation Led First Boom

Columbus was a town of 2,000 people in 1832. Two years later, we were a city of 5,000. How did that happen? The National Road -US Route 40 – and the Ohio Canal both came to town at the same time. How often does that happen? Not very often.

By the end of the Civil War, Columbus was a town of more than 20,000 people. In short order, Columbus, linked by rail to the East began producing shoes, glass, tools and buggies – lots of buggies.

Innovative Buggies

The Iron Buggy Company had gone into business in 1875. The assumption was that many people would like a strong iron buggy. The assumption was wrong. Most people just wanted a good safe cheap buggy. The Iron Buggy Company became the Columbus Buggy Company and produced the good safe cheap buggy everyone wanted. By 1900, the Columbus Buggy company and was making one of every five buggies sold anywhere. Columbus was the â€œBuggy Capital of the World.â€

Columbus produced its share of bright people with Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and a number of others who won some acclaim during their service in the Great War. After World War I, the Battelle family established the Battelle Memorial Institute to explore the secrets of metals and much of everything else. And Battelle is still doing that as the largest private research organization in the world.

Research Institutions

Next door to Battelle is The Ohio State University. From its early beginnings as at least a figurative â€œcollege in a cornfieldâ€ Ohio State has become one of America’s best places for teaching and research. And football is played there from time to time as well.

Columbus is a place of constant creativity and constructive change. Like many places where good people do great things, Columbus is a city of firsts.

City of Firsts

A few examples. Columbus invented and brought forth the first kindergarten in America, the first major league baseball team in our country, and the first dental school in the world. Columbus is also the home of the first Junior High School in America at Indianola Junior High.

In addition, we can lay claim to being the home of the first â€œmodernâ€ shopping center at Town and Country on the east side of the city and people from central Ohio also developed the first truly edible tomato.

All of this, it seems to me, is not that bad for a capital city in the heart of America in its first couple hundred years. It gives one pause to consider what we might do in the next two hundred.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/10/10/innovation-not-new-to-columbus/feed/1buggy,columbus history,Ed Lentz,idus,innovationThe City of Columbus has just wrapped up a week-long celebration of innovation called iDUs. WOSU Commentator and local historian reminds us that innovation is not new to Columbus.The City of Columbus has just wrapped up a week-long celebration of innovation called iDUs. WOSU Commentator and local historian reminds us that innovation is not new to Columbus.WOSU Newsno2:44Commentary: Who’s Blocking All The Good Views?http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/06/29/commentary-whos-blocking-all-the-good-views/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/06/29/commentary-whos-blocking-all-the-good-views/#commentsFri, 29 Jun 2012 14:34:17 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=31167

There used to be plenty of places for the public to enjoy a good view of Columbus and Central Ohio. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz wants to know why those places are on the decline.

People in Central Ohio seem to have lost their ability to see things from the perspective of a high place.

I am not really sure why.

Perhaps the airplanes did it.

Most people have a sense of awe â€“ and occasional stark terror â€“ when they view their world from a high place.

That fearful feeling we get when looking down from a high place is often mistakenly labeled acrophobia, or fear of heights. It is not that at all in most cases. What really possesses us is the perfectly human fear of falling from a high place, or bathophobia.

Despite those fears, most of us over the years have from time to time sought a high place to help us better understand the world around â€“ and below â€“ us.

At least that was the case â€“ until recently.

When I first lived near downtown Columbus in the late 1960s, the LeVeque Tower (or AIU Citadel, as it once was called) still had an observation deck in one of the highest floors of the 44-story building. On that floor were a number of large cumbersome binocular machines. Inserting some pocket change permitted one to see large slices of the world below us in rather close detail. It was fun, it was cheap, and it was even occasionally enlightening.

And there was nothing new about it.

After Columbus was created by the Ohio General Assembly in 1812, it took a few years to get the streets laid out and some public buildings erected.

But by 1816, when the Assembly came to town for the first time, one could walk into a new two-story brick Statehouse at the corner of State and High Streets. Upon entering by the south door, one encountered the chamber of the House of Representatives. Up a flight of steps was the Senate chamber. Up yet another flight was a doorway to the balcony surrounding the roof of the building.

From that balcony one could see all of Columbus â€“ such as it was â€“ and probably the homes and shops of all of its several hundred residents.

Over the years, the city grew in size and sophistication. And so did the size of its buildings. But there was always a place where the public could rise up and see their city. Our current Statehouse â€“ completed in 1861 â€“ has a walkway encircling the cylindrical cupola above the rotunda.

In the years after the Civil War, our buildings got taller. And with the perfection of safe, reliable elevators, we got our first skyscraper â€“ The Wyandotte Building â€“ in 1898.

By the time the LeVeque Tower was completed in 1927, the idea of having a public viewing place on top of high buildings was well-established.

Then in the late 1960s, the world began to change.

The viewing level of the LeVeque Tower was closed and the space was rented as offices. Newer and bigger buildings continued to be built, but they did not have public viewing at their highest levels. I always wondered why.

Was the space all that previous that a bit of it could not be set aside? I donâ€™t think so. Or did we just lose interest in the high places? I donâ€™t think that was the case, either.

People are still fascinated with the view from up on high. We simply found other ways to see our world. The combination of affordable air travel and the wealth of imagery available on the web meant that we could now see our world in other ways.

In a way, itâ€™s too bad. Take it from me: no picture can match what one can see from the top of the tower.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/06/29/commentary-whos-blocking-all-the-good-views/feed/0columbus,commentary,downtown,Ed Lentz,skylineThere used to be plenty of places for the public to enjoy a good view of Columbus and Central Ohio. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz wants to know why those places are on the decline.There used to be plenty of places for the public to enjoy a good view of Columbus and Central Ohio. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz wants to know why those places are on the decline.WOSU Newsno2:55Commentary: Columbus – A City Where Dreams are Madehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/02/14/columbus-a-city-where-dreams-are-made/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2012/02/14/columbus-a-city-where-dreams-are-made/#commentsTue, 14 Feb 2012 11:00:24 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=23193

Today Columbus celebrates its Bicentennial. Itâ€™s kind of like the Super Bowl for WOSU Commentator and Local Historian Ed Lentz.

Cities are dreams defined. And great cities are places where great dreams are made manifest. Columbus, Ohio, is one of those cities.

Every city is a unique construct that is a reflection of the people who made it. But some cities are much more than that â€“ they are symbols as well of something more than the people who live here.

Columbus is one of those cities as well.

Columbus is a created city. There was no city on the â€œHigh Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Sciotoâ€ until the Ohio General Assembly brought it into being two hundred years ago. The original capital of Ohio had been at Chillicothe and then at Zanesville and then back to Chillicothe all within the first decade of the stateâ€™s history. Yielding to pressure to locate the capital in the central part of the state, many potential towns had been examined. But in the end the Ohio General Assembly decided to do something rather bold and daring.

In this new state on the edge of the frontier â€“ in a place where only a few years earlier Native Americans had lived for generations – Ohio decided to build an entirely new town to be its symbolic center of state power and authority.

For more than two centuries it has been just that. From modest beginnings with a two story brick statehouse the State of Ohio has become a place where historic things happen with a rather surprising regularity. And Columbus has been in the center of it all.

When the state decided it needed a new statehouse in the 1830â€™s, it did not build a common building. In the middle of a state with few roads of any kind, Ohio began to construct a building that was second only to the US capitol in size and grandeur. When the National Road came to Ohio, it passed through Columbus. When Ohio built a canal system and a rail system and a highway system, Columbus was linked to all of them.

The state built massive institutions to care for people in need â€“ the blind, the deaf and the mentally ill and put them her in Columbus. It built one of the most progressive penitentiaries in America and put it â€œnearâ€ Columbus â€“ â€œway out in the countryâ€ at Spring Street and Neil Avenue. And it built a one of the worldâ€™s great learning communities â€“ The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College â€“ now The Ohio State University â€“ and placed it in Columbus as well.

One might think that all of these great institutions as well as libraries, cultural institutions and a fabric of truly livable neighborhoods might produce some memorable people. And they have.

The list of truly remarkable people who have called Columbus home for a little while or for a lifetime is a rather long one. But as much as a city shapes its people with its streets and its structures and its sights and its sounds, the city is also a reflection of the people who have made it their own for more than two hundred years.

As we look back on this rather special birthday, we can see how the dreams we have had have defined who we have been. And they still are. That is the magic of Columbus and Ohio and America. We are and always have been a people reinventing, rediscovering and renewing ourselves. We are a restless people who have done many wonderful things. And we are about to do many more.

Columbus, Ohio, on its two hundredth birthday continues to be a radiant symbol in the center of a great state of the people who call it home.

The news has not been good lately. Headlines and newscasts are filled with stories of war, economic strife, political stalemates. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz reminds us. Weâ€™ve been there. And done that.

These are troubling times. For much of the last decade we have been waging a long struggle in many distant parts of the world against enemies whose very elusiveness makes them all that much more dangerous.

While all of that has been going on, the United States has been suffering through the worst economic downturn since the Depression of the 1930s. The Great Recession and the problems that gave it rise are with us still and will take extraordinary patience, intelligence and good will to resolve.

As the political debate in our country becomes a little louder as we approach the Presidential year of 2012, the arguments on both the Left and the Right become more strident. And the Center, well, it would be well if the Center holds.

And the Center will probably do just that.

There is nothing new here. America is a country that has always been full of people from many different places, many of whom â€“ at least originally â€“ did not like each other all that much.

From our earliest history we have always had some trepidation about people who were â€œnot like us.â€ The English distrusted â€“ and sometimes fought â€“ the French, the Spanish and the Dutch, not to mention any nearby Native Americans.

Coming out the American Revolution â€“ where British rebels and loyalists fought each other, the new country began to build a new future â€“ with much its success based on the forced labor of African slaves.

But then in the 1850s new fears gripped the public as thousands of new immigrants, especially from Ireland and Germany, flooded the country. The result was a combination political party and secret society called the American Party. Asked if they were members, American Party adherents were told to respond â€œI know nothing.â€ Their enemies soon claimed that the phrase was apt.

A new wave of immigration in the late 1800s brought millions of new people, largely from eastern and southern Europe, to our shores. And as one might expect, not everyone was happy about this. The result was an extraordinary resurgence of an unlikely organization, the Ku Klux Klan.

Founded as a terrorist organization to strike fear into the Reconstruction South of post-Civil War America, the Klan emerged in a new form in the 1920s. Hundreds of thousands of people in places like Indiana, Ohio and Illinois joined a group that was avowedly Anti-Black, Anti-Catholic, Anti-Semitic and Anti-Immigrant but was also â€œ100 percent American.â€ Just how one managed to be all of those things has never been adequately explained.

In our own time, we have seen increasing concern about immigration once again as new people from Africa, from Asia and from Latin America come to our shores. As in the past, many of these people arrive quite legally. Many do not. And as in the past, in times of economic hardship and foreign concern, some among us begin to blame the newest of our people for the problems all of us face.

How all of this will turn out in the short run is anyoneâ€™s guess. We are certainly not out of the woods economically or politically. And it is likely as least some of our newest citizens will see even more disdain heaped upon them.

But if our history is any guide â€“ and I think it is â€“ these problems will be resolved. The economy will recover. We will prevail against our enemies, â€œforeign and domestic.â€ The newest of us will become part of the ever evolving American fabric.

And the people of Columbus will once again turn their attention to the more important things in life â€“ family, friends and the pleasures of autumn days.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/08/22/comment-troubled-times-nothing-new/feed/1commentary,economy,Ed LentzThe news has not been good lately. Headlines and newscasts are filled with stories of war, economic strife, political stalemates. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz reminds us. Weâ€™ve been there. And done that.The news has not been good lately. Headlines and newscasts are filled with stories of war, economic strife, political stalemates. WOSU commentator and local historian Ed Lentz reminds us. Weâ€™ve been there. And done that.WOSU Newsno3:04Columbus Commons – The Latest Effort to Bring Parkland To The Cityhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/06/01/columbus-commons-the-latest-effort-to-bring-parkland-to-the-city/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/06/01/columbus-commons-the-latest-effort-to-bring-parkland-to-the-city/#commentsWed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/06/01/columbus-commons-the-latest-effort-to-bring-parkland-to-the-city/

Downtown Columbus has a new park at the site of the demolished City Center Mall. WOSU Commentator Ed Lentz traces the history of parks in Columbus.

I am one of those people who happen to think that just about any time is a good time to visit downtown Columbus. As the central place in central Ohio, Columbus has – for almost 200 years – been the focus of state power and authority and a major center of transport and trade.

It has also been the place where people have come simply to have a good time. Even with the rise of suburbia, many people still do. And even more people will be coming as the city approaches its two hundredth anniversary in 2012.

One of the places they will be visiting in larger and larger numbers is a major public park called Columbus Commons. Built on the site of the former Columbus City Center shopping mall, amenities at the park include food facilities, an outside library, music and other performances and a full-sized carousel. By 2012, a major concert venue at the north end of the park will be completed as well. It promises to be quite a place and a welcome addition to the than 215 parks administered by the city Department of Recreation and Parks.

All of these fine parks and their long history of service might lead one to believe that the capital city has always had public parks. And in this one would only be partially correct and only then by a little convolution.

Columbus was founded in 1812 and for most of its early history – for 40 years in fact – it had no public parks. In 1851 Dr. Lincoln Goodale gave the city its first park – Goodale Park – on the north side of downtown. The curious might inquire – what did people do for parks until Dr. Goodale decided to be generous?

The short answer would be -initially, not much at all.

People living in Columbus faced many challenges in carving a new home from the vast forest that covered much of central Ohio. But finding a place away from the noise and bustle of the village was not all that hard. All one had to do was walk out the back door of a house and in a few minutes all the peace and privacy one could ever want was at hand – with an occasional interruption by passing bears, wolves and buffalo.

With the coming of the National Road and Ohio Canal, Columbus became a bigger, more bustling sort of place and people began to feel the need of a place like a park. Without any parks around, the residents of Columbus used the next best thing – places that looked like parks.

The people of Columbus were fortunate in that the Ohio General assembly had designated the capital city as the place to locate major facilities for people who against their will or because of it were wards of the state. Large institutions like the Deaf School, the Blind School, and the Penitentiary were built here. And all of them had spacious grounds.

So on a pleasant day in May 150 years ago, one might find more than a few families enjoying a picnic lunch on the lawn of the Lunatic Asylum or on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse. These places were purported to “belong to the people.” So at least some of the people decided to put their belongings to good use.

But by the late 1840′s, a movement was sweeping across America that valued green space as a check to the growing size and power of the industrial city. This movement had advocates as diverse as Henry David Thoreau and Edgar Allen Poe. It expressed itself in Columbus in the abandonment of the Old North Graveyard for Green Lawn Cemetery and in the grateful acceptance of Goodale Park by the city. This was only the beginning. Over the next century and a half, Columbus grew and became the largest city in land area in the state. And its park system grew as well.

And with the arrival of Columbus Commons it continues to grow. I don’t know about you, but to me a carousel beats a bear in the woods any old day.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/06/01/columbus-commons-the-latest-effort-to-bring-parkland-to-the-city/feed/0columbus,commons,Ed LentzDowntown Columbus has a new park at the site of the demolished City Center Mall. WOSU Commentator Ed Lentz traces the history of parks in Columbus.Downtown Columbus has a new park at the site of the demolished City Center Mall. WOSU Commentator Ed Lentz traces the history of parks in Columbus.WOSU Newsno3:11Anniversaries Weren’t Always a Big Dealhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/02/24/anniversaries-werent-always-a-big-deal/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/02/24/anniversaries-werent-always-a-big-deal/#commentsThu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/02/24/anniversaries-werent-always-a-big-deal/

You may have heard that Columbus is gearing up for its bicentennial. Committees have been formed. They are planning a year's worth of events. WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, it wasn't always this way.

The city of Columbus Ohio is approaching a rather big birthday. In rather short order we will be celebrating the birth of Columbus on February 14,1812 while we also celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War and the Bicentennial of the War of 1812.

It is a lot to keep track of – in a very short period of time.

But I have absolutely no doubt that we will all be able to do just that. After all, most Americans today seem to like a public party of one sort or another.

As we prepare to celebrate all of these various sesquicentennial and bicentennial events, it is easy to form an opinion that we must have been celebrating these sorts of anniversaries through most of our history.

In our society, couples who have been together for a long time take special pleasure in celebrating a Silver Anniversary at 25 years, a Golden Anniversary at fifty years and all sorts of other anniversaries in the other years. And since people do this as to their own lives, and the city is ready to celebrate its 200th birthday, the natural supposition would be that Columbus has celebrated its own anniversaries as well.

And of course that natural supposition would be wrong. In reality we have only been celebrating for about half of our history.

Looking back at the history of Columbus, one will soon discover that we did not celebrate the 25th, 50th, or 75th anniversaries of the city all that much at all. Then in 1912, Columbus had a long, elaborate and quite successful centennial celebration with parades, events, and exhibitions. In 1962, the city celebrated its sesquicentennial with more events and activities. And now we are preparing to spend much of 2012 with our bicentennial.

So what happened between 1812 and 1912 to turn Columbus into a celebratory kind of place?

In a few words – America came of age.

In 1876, the United States celebrated its Centennial with a grand exposition in Philadelphia patterned after European World’s Fairs like the Crystal Palace in London in 1851. Ohio participated in Philadelphia and what would eventually – after a few false starts – become the Ohio Historical Society came from the state’s efforts to have a nice exhibit at the Centennial.

The Centennial was an enormous success and soon there would be many more – the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901, and Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 – to name just a few.

As a major center of transportation and trade, Columbus had its own history of holding big meetings – 250,000 Civil War Vets and their friends in 1888, the founding meetings of the American Federation of Labor and The United Mine Workers of America, and any number of political, business and social meetings and The Ohio State Fair.

So, when 1912 came around and the city was home to a State Constitutional Convention and the city’s centennial was at hand – it seemed like a very good idea indeed to do a little celebrating.

It was then and it still is.

Columbus will see a lot of Bicentennial projects in the next few years – including WOSU Public Media’s own Columbus Neighborhoods .

Also, the city’s bicentennial website .

I think you will find something to like as Columbus begins its biggest ever birthday party. I know I will.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/02/24/anniversaries-werent-always-a-big-deal/feed/0bicentennial,Ed LentzYou may have heard that Columbus is gearing up for its bicentennial. Committees have been formed. They are planning a year's worth of events. WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, it wasn't always this way.You may have heard that Columbus is gearing up for its bicentennial. Committees have been formed. They are planning a year's worth of events. WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, it wasn't always this way.WOSU Newsno3:23Snow in Central Ohio- Complaints Endurehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/01/18/snow-in-central-ohio-complaints-endure/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/01/18/snow-in-central-ohio-complaints-endure/#commentsTue, 18 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/01/18/snow-in-central-ohio-complaints-endure/After a couple days of rain, snow is back in the Central Ohio forecast for the end of this week. If you're tired of winter, WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, previous generations shared your pain.

]]>If you grow up in Ohio or live in the state for any length of time, you develop a healthy admiration and respect for snow.

Ohio is place that receives, and has always received, a healthy share of the white stuff that Mother Nature bestows in the winter months. On the one hand the snow of winter in Ohio makes even the sorriest corner of the state a pretty place indeed. And in the night, when the air and the land becomes bitter cold, the snow sparkles with a glitter that cameras often cannot see and digital magic has yet easily to capture.

Ohio on a snowy night can be a very special place indeed.

But snow is an annoyance as well. Nearing the magic age of sixteen, most of us discovered – sometimes by bitter experience – that driving in the snow was unlike the other forms of driving most of us had learned.

We also learned that removing snow is an art as well as a science. Sometimes, when the air is quite cold and clear after a snow storm, a simple broom can remove several inches of snow from a walk or driveway. But when the air warms a bit, the snow becomes heavy and wet and shovel and a strong back are required to remove it.

Winter can dangerous in Ohio and the snow has not always been friendly. In an age when technology can provide heat and comfort and protection, we tend to forget how formidable the winter can be.

During the winter of 1804, Joel Buttles and his family arrived in the place that would soon come to be called Worthington, Ohio. Many years later his diary recalled that time.

“We ended our journey on the fourth of December, 1804, Three days before we reached our destination, the snow fell about two or three inches deep. The storm began with rain and finished with snow, the ground not frozen at all, but that snow was the foundation for all others that fell during the winter. It gradually accumulated until it was ten or twelve inches deep.”

“About the first of January, there was more rain, which soon turned to snow, and being cold afterwards, a crust formed which would generally bear young cattle,” Buttles writes. “We had a cabin of one room for our numerous family and effects, and this cabin was in the woods, about twenty rods north of the public square or main street. It was a sorry time with us.”

The entry continues: “Our cattle and horses had to be fed, though not much. We had to go to General Worthington’s mill on the Kinnakinnick, above Chillicothe, for flour about forty miles away, but as the roads were good-good snow paths-sleds, which could soon be made were put in requisition.”

Despite these difficulties, the Buttles family survived and prospered in the new country. Winters were hard in those days and they can still be hard today. A weather record from 1836 summed up the winter of that year in central Ohio with exasperated wit:

“First it rained, and then it blew, And then it friz, and then it snew, And then there was a shower of rain, And then it friz and snew again.”

And there is always the old saying about weather in Ohio. If you don’t like it – just wait a bit – it will be sure to change.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/01/18/snow-in-central-ohio-complaints-endure/feed/0Ed Lentz,snowAfter a couple days of rain, snow is back in the Central Ohio forecast for the end of this week. If you're tired of winter, WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, previous generations shared your pain.After a couple days of rain, snow is back in the Central Ohio forecast for the end of this week. If you're tired of winter, WOSU Commentator and local historian Ed Lentz says, previous generations shared your pain.WOSU Newsno3:03Central Ohio – Rivers Run Through Ithttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/12/14/central-ohio-rivers-run-through-it/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/12/14/central-ohio-rivers-run-through-it/#commentsTue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000Ed Lentzhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/12/14/central-ohio-rivers-run-through-it/

Columbus and other cities around Central Ohio are trying to reintroduce their residents to the rivers that run through them. Gahanna has its Creekside development; Columbus soon will have the Scioto Mile. Local Historian and WOSU Commentator Ed Lentz shares the stories of the Columbus Rivers.

The story of Columbus is the story of a city and its rivers. It has always been about the rivers.

People have been living in central Ohio for more than 10,000 years. And for most of those years, some of them have always lived close to the rivers. It was to the rivers that the animals came – to drink and to frolic as well. Scioto is a Native American word which has been loosely translated to mean “Deer River”. It was to the river that the deer came by the hundreds in molting season and left enough of their hair to cover the stream and give it the nickname “hairy river” as well.

The Olentangy River is a little trickier. Originally Native Americans called this river by a name which roughly meant “the river of sharpening stones.” Trappers, traders and frontiersmen coming into Ohio translated that and called the river Whetstone Creek. In fact, to the north of Columbus it is still called by that name. In the 1830′s the Ohio General Assembly had an apparent bit of remorse at having removed most Native Americans from the state. To better remember the people they had evicted, the Assembly decided to return many Ohio streams to their Indian names.

However, when Whetstone Creek was considered it was rapidly discovered that its original name was virtually unpronounceable by many people. The legislature solved the problem by giving Whetstone Creek the name of a stream to the south of town called the Olentangy. What once had been the Olentangy became Big Darby Creek. All of this is well and good except Olentangy does not mean “Whetstone.” It means “face paint/from there”. From the clay near the creek came some of the red face paint used to adorn the native people of the area. The apparent discrepancy did not bother the legislature then – and it does not seem to have bothered them since.

When colonial settlers came into Ohio and eventually made it their own, they valued the rivers as much as the Native Americans. In addition to the large numbers of animals who lived nearby and the rich farmland in the flood plains, early settlers were also attracted by the possibility of using the rivers for transportation and trade. Pioneer settler Lucas Sullivant established the frontier community of Franklinton at the “Forks of the Scioto” in the hope that it would become a major river town. It didn’t but most of the people who had moved here stayed anyway and made the area their own. In time their judgment was affirmed when the state capital was located across the river in the new town of Columbus.

In the years between 1820 and the turn of the twentieth century factories were built along the river and a feeder branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal emptied into the river as well. The river that had lured so many people to this place for so long became little more than an open sewer. But even in these years when the river smelled awful and looked worse, people still lived near it, fished in it and even swam in it from time to time – presumably at some risk to one’s health. Then, over the course of the last several decades, the city reclaimed the river that ran through its midst. The effort began in the wake of the devastating 1913 flood that ravaged the west side and killed more than 90 people. The river was widened, slums along its banks were removed and the Columbus Civic Center began to be built. In more recent years, the Battelle Riverfront Park, walkways along the western bank of the Scioto, and most recently – the Scioto Mile project – have enhanced the quality of the river and the lives of the people who come to visit it.

If you would better know this place called central Ohio – come to the rivers. There is an old rule among people who roam the woods. If you become lost, walk until you find a stream. Follow the stream. It will lead to a river and the river will lead you home.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2010/12/14/central-ohio-rivers-run-through-it/feed/0Ed Lentz,mile,sciotoColumbus and other cities around Central Ohio are trying to reintroduce their residents to the rivers that run through them. Gahanna has its Creekside development; Columbus soon will have the Scioto Mile.Columbus and other cities around Central Ohio are trying to reintroduce their residents to the rivers that run through them. Gahanna has its Creekside development; Columbus soon will have the Scioto Mile. Local Historian and WOSU Commentator Ed Lentz shares the stories of the Columbus Rivers.WOSU Newsno3:26